The Last Heir of the Van Declaoria Bloodline - Chapter 10

“Every game has a piece no one sees…”

“The one that decides everything.”

The underground laboratory felt colder than before.

Not because of the air.

But because something had shifted.

Regna stood in the center of the room, his breathing steady, his body finally responding the way it was supposed to.

No more tremors.

No more instability.

The serum had done its work.

But what remained inside him…

Was something else entirely.

Lukas watched him from across the room.

Silent.

Observing.

Measuring.

“Again,” Lukas said.

Regna moved instantly.

A metal rod swung toward him from the side—mechanical, fast, precise.

He didn’t think.

He reacted.

His body shifted.

His hand caught the rod mid-swing.

Stopped it.

Perfect timing.

No hesitation.

Lukas nodded slowly.

“Your reflexes are stabilizing.”

Regna released the rod and stepped back.

His chest rose slightly as he exhaled.

“This isn’t normal.”

“No,” Lukas replied calmly.

“It isn’t.”

Regna looked at his hands.

At the way his muscles moved.

At the way his senses felt… expanded.

“You didn’t just save me.”

Lukas said nothing.

Regna looked up.

“You changed me.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

Then Lukas spoke.

“I completed what they failed to finish.”

Regna’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Project Argentum.”

“Yes.”

Lukas walked toward the main console.

The large screen lit up, displaying the genetic structure once again.

Silver strands spiraling across the display.

“You were never meant to survive the explosion,” Lukas continued.

“But your body…”

“…adapted faster than expected.”

Regna stared at the screen.

“And now?”

Lukas turned toward him.

“Now you are something they’ve been trying to create for decades.”

A pause.

“The perfect balance.”

Miles away, in the quiet village of Arnoise…

The wind moved softly through the fields.

The old house stood in silence beneath the pale moonlight.

But the silence didn’t last.

Headlights cut through the darkness.

One.

Two.

Three black vehicles rolled slowly down the dirt road.

Engines low.

Controlled.

Professional.

They stopped just outside the house.

Doors opened in near-perfect synchronization.

Figures stepped out.

Dressed in black.

Armed.

Efficient.

One of them spoke into a small comm device.

“Target location confirmed.”

Another voice answered.

“Proceed.”

The team moved.

Fast.

Silent.

They surrounded the house within seconds.

One of them signaled.

Three.

Two.

One.

The door burst open.

They entered.

Weapons raised.

Clear.

Room by room.

Precision.

“Ground floor clear.”

“Second floor clear.”

“No visual on target.”

The team leader frowned.

“That’s not possible.”

He stepped further into the house.

Everything looked… untouched.

Dust.

Furniture.

Time frozen in place.

But something felt wrong.

Too clean.

Too quiet.

Then—

A sound.

Behind him.

He turned.

Too late.

A sharp movement.

A strike.

The first man dropped instantly.

No gunshot.

No warning.

Just silence.

The others reacted.

“Contact!”

But the shadow had already moved.

Another strike.

Another body fell.

Fast.

Precise.

Controlled.

Not chaos.

Strategy.

The last operative aimed—

But his hand froze mid-air.

A voice spoke behind him.

Cold.

Calm.

“You’re late.”

He tried to turn—

Pain.

Everything went dark.

Lieta Van Declaoria stepped out from the shadows.

Her silver hair reflected faintly under the moonlight.

She looked at the fallen bodies.

Expression unreadable.

“They’re getting faster,” she murmured.

She walked toward the door slowly.

Her eyes scanned the area.

This wasn’t just a search team.

This was a probe.

A test.

Which meant only one thing.

“They’re not hunting blindly anymore.”

She looked toward the distant road.

“They’re being guided.”

Back in the underground laboratory…

A warning signal flashed across Lukas’s screen.

Red.

Blinking.

He immediately moved toward the console.

“They found Arnoise.”

Regna stepped closer.

“How fast?”

“Faster than expected.”

Regna’s jaw tightened.

“My mother.”

“She’s still alive,” Lukas said quickly.

“I would know if she wasn’t.”

Regna exhaled slowly.

“Then we go.”

Lukas didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he turned to face him fully.

“This is the moment.”

Regna frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“If you step into this war…”

Lukas’s voice dropped.

“…there is no returning to your old life.”

Silence.

Heavy.

Final.

Regna looked down for a moment.

Then back up.

“They already burned my way back.”

Lukas held his gaze.

Studying him.

Then he nodded once.

“Good.”

He turned back to the console.

“Then we stop hiding.”

High above the city…

Inside the Van Declaoria Tower…

The council chamber lights remained on.

Ewan stood alone near the window.

The city stretched endlessly before him.

Calm.

Unaware.

He held a glass in his hand.

Unfinished.

Behind him, the large screen displayed incoming reports.

One of them flashed.

TEAM LOST — ARNOISE LOCATION

Ewan didn’t react immediately.

He simply watched the city.

Then he spoke quietly.

“So…”

“…you chose to fight.”

A faint smile appeared.

Not anger.

Not frustration.

Something else.

Interest.

He placed the glass down slowly.

“Then let’s see how long you survive.”

Far away…

In the mountains of Aceh…

The waterfall continued to roar.

Unchanged.

Unmoved.

The world still believed it was peaceful.

But deep within the forest…

A woman stood still beneath the shadows of tall trees.

Watching nothing.

Yet knowing everything.

Her phone screen dimmed slowly in her hand.

“They’ve begun moving,” she whispered.

A faint smile followed.

“Good.”

She turned slightly.

And walked deeper into the forest.

Back in the laboratory…

Lukas handed Regna a black jacket.

“Wear this.”

Regna took it without hesitation.

“Where are we going?”

Lukas looked at the screen one last time.

Then at him.

“To the place where the game actually begins.”

Regna put the jacket on.

His movements steady.

Controlled.

Different.

No longer the man who once walked through the rain with an umbrella.

No longer the man who feared losing everything.

Now…

He was something else.

Something the Van Declaoria family had been trying to create for generations.

And something they were not prepared to face.

The lights in the laboratory dimmed as systems began shutting down.

The hidden facility prepared to move.

For the first time in decades…

Lukas Mileron stepped back into the world.

And beside him…

The heir who was supposed to be dead…

Took his first step into the war.